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Policy

The Alliance for Excellent Education is a Washington, DC-based national policy and advocacy organization that works to improve national and federal policy so that all students can achieve at high academic levels and graduate from high school ready for success in college, work, and citizenship in the twenty-first century. The Alliance focuses on America's six million most at-risk secondary school students — those in the lowest achievement quartile — who are most likely to leave school without a diploma or to graduate unprepared for a productive future.

ACE maintains both a domestic and an international agenda and seeks to advance the interests and goals of higher and adult education in a changing environment by providing leadership and advocacy on important issues, representing the views of the higher and adult education community to policy makers, and offering services to its members.

Working with neighborhoods and state and local governments, the Foundation provides grants to public and nonprofit organizations to strengthen the support services, social networks, physical infrastructure, employment, self-determination, and economic vitality of distressed communities. One of several initiatives includes supporting comprehensive education reform in the states: for example, school/community partnerships; school-based accountability; and smaller class size.

Carnegie Corporation of New York was created by Andrew Carnegie in 1911 to promote the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding.ï¿½ Building on its history and past programs in the field, Carnegie Corporation will dedicate a major part of its grant funds over the next few years to education reform, beginning with early childhood education and extending to higher education.

A state-led effort coordinated by the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices and the Council of Chief State School Officers, the Common Core State Standards provide a consistent framework to prepare children for college and the workforce by defining the knowledge and skills students should have in their K-12 education in order to succeed.

Communities In Schools (CIS) works within the public school system, determining student needs and establishing relationships with local businesses, social service agencies, health care providers, and parent and volunteer organizations to provide needed resources. CIS strategically aligns and delivers needed resources so that students can focus on learning.

The Knowledge Matters Campaign is an advocacy initiative focused on the critical role of knowledge-building. It’s time to restore history, science, geography, art, music, and more to the education we give to all students, especially those least likely to gain such knowledge outside school. Greater comprehension, critical thinking, curiosity, and equality will be our reward. Educators need to devote more time to building vocabulary and knowledge in science, social studies, and the arts — starting in early childhood. Policymakers need to create incentives for districts and schools to make long-term investments in building academic knowledge. Parents need to demand a well-rounded education and read aloud, visit museums, and discuss current events with their children.

The Alliance organizations represent more than 10 million individuals engaged in providing, governing, and improving America's public schools at the local, state, and national levels. The Alliance is dedicated to helping those institutions and people who provide and govern public education work together to find the best way to respond to local challenges. The Alliance will strive to deliver a common message to all parts of the education system, align priorities, share and disseminate success stories, encourage collaboration at every level, and work toward long-term systemic change based on solid research evidence.

Literate Nation is a nonprofit call to action movement begun by a group of citizens, educators, and scientists. The organization's vision is to create an accessible, highly informed, broad-based platform for literacy leadership that will provide the U.S. with the most comprehensive, cross-disciplinary resources and strategic initiatives available to propel the systemic changes needed for a fully literate nation.

Since 1938, NASDSE has focused on improving the educational services for children and youth with disabilities by making sure that students with disabilities are able to participate in their education and successfully transition to post-school education, employment, and independent living.

The National Center for Fair & Open Testing (FairTest) is an advocacy organization working to end the abuses, misuses and flaws of standardized testing and ensure that evaluation of students and workers is fair, open, and educationally sound.

The National Center for Families Learning (formerly the National Center for Family Literacy) inspires and engages families in the pursuit of education and learning together. Since 1989, the NCFL has helped families make educational progress by pioneering and improving family literacy programs. NCFL offers free resources for parents, educators, and community organizations.

The National Center for Learning Disabilities (NCLD) works to ensure that the nation's 15 million children, adolescents, and adults with learning disabilities have every opportunity to succeed in school, work, and life. NCLD provides essential information to parents, professionals and individuals with learning disabilities, promotes research and programs to foster effective learning, and advocates for policies to protect and strengthen educational rights and opportunities.

The National Head Start Association is a private not-for-profit membership organization dedicated exclusively to meeting the needs of Head Start children and their families. It represents more than 1 million children, 200,000 staff, and 2,700 Head Start programs in the United States. The Association provides support for the entire Head Start community by advocating for policies that strengthen services to Head Start children and their families; by providing extensive training and professional development to Head Start staff; and by developing and disseminating research, information, and resources that enrich Head Start program delivery.

The Early Education Initiative seeks to promote a high-quality and continuous system of early care and education for children from birth to age 8. The Early Education Initiative seeks to promote a high-quality and continuous system of early care and education for all children, birth to age 8. It is an initiative of the New America Foundation, a nonprofit, nonpartisan public policy institute.

The Campaign is a collaborative effort by foundations, nonprofit partners, states, and communities across the nation to ensure that more children in low-income families succeed in school and graduate prepared for college, a career, and active citizenship. The Campaign focuses on the most important predictor of school success and high school graduation — grade-level reading by the end of third grade.